The Mystical Journey
by Klefki
Summary: Life as a medieval peasant was boring. Especially when there was more excitement beyond the village. After encountering a strange man in a cotton shop with a horde of imps after them, Rose discovers that she is a witch. When the village finds out, she is exiled from the village where she finds the strange man again who calls himself the Doctor, a self-proclaimed potions master.
1. Chapter 1

The morning light of the sun shone through the windows of a young woman's room. She wakes up taking stock of her bedroom with the white brick walls plain dresser. She heard a voice, "Rose! You gotta get out of bed and help me with these textiles!"

Rose groaned. It was the same old thing everyday. She would wake up in the morning and help here mum with the textile business. Ever since Rose's father died when she was 5, she had to help with the textiles or else she and her mum would starve.

Rose got out of bed and got dressed. She only owned plain white dresses which was typical for your average peasant. She went downstairs into the textile workroom of their shop with their living quarters on the top. Her mum Jacqueline, was a widow and considered a social pariah since the village considers widows more likely to be witches. Her mum was working on the textiles and she notices her daughter, "Hey Rose, can you go get some more cotton for the textiles? We are kind of running low right now. Go to Wilson's Shop!" Rose nods and takes a couple baskets into the village marketplace.

Life in Powell village in the kingdom of Torchwood was very boring. As Rose was walking towards the Wilson's cotton shop, she couldn't help but notice the knights that patrol the village. The life of a knight was so much more exciting, they would patrol the bordering forest and protect the village from the likes of trolls, goblins, and even dragons. She decided to stop by her friend Mickey's blacksmith shop before heading to the cotton traders. As Rose was walking up towards the hut, Mickey spotted her and greeted her, "Hey Rose!"

"Hey Micks," she greeted back to him as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She and Mickey were very close as friends, but only recently decided to date.

"Hey babe, I'm working on a few new swords for the knights. Want to check them out?" He asked.

"Sure, my hands are killing me from this textile stuff. I need a bit of a rest." Mickey took her hands and felt her hand vibrate a bit under his.

"Yeah, maybe you should rest a bit. I'll get the bread and some ale. Then I can show you the swords." Mickey grabbed some ale and bread and they started eating it.

After eating, Mickey grabbed a heavy sword that he held with both hands. It had a cross hilt with the handle being leather.

"This is the claymore I've been working on for one of the knights. It's very heavy and can easily cut through a dragon's tough hide." Mickey explained while Rose nodded. Rose didn't really like killing, but there are dangerous creatures outside the village that would not hesitate to kill a human.

Mickey put the claymore down and brought another sword out which held with ease. It was slightly curved with a basket shaped guard. "Here's the cutlass sword. It's much lighter, and thus you can protect yourself with a shield in another hand." Mickey swished the sword and did a few swings and jabs.

"That's great and all, but I should go to the cotton trader's now. Mum's probably gonna chew me out." Rose reminded herself.

Mickey groaned, "Yeah, I guess. Tell your mum that I said hello!" Mickey led Rose out of his hut and kissed her on the cheek once more.

Rose waved goodbye and started walking towards the cotton traders. The cotton shop was on the edge of the village near the cotton fields. The cotton shop was a modestly sized place. Rose walked in and shouted, "Wilson! I have the money for the cotton!" She walked around the shop and saw no signs of anyone in the shop, which was very unusual. She walked around the cotton shop and stumbled upon another room. She walked inside only to hear the door closing behind her. The room was full of these small, grayish creatures with pointed ears, sharp teeth, and yellow eyes. Rose closed her eyes awaiting her demise, then she feels a hand on hers. She hears a voice, "RUN!"

She was being dragged by a man taller than her with brown hair and he was wearing brown trousers with a white long sleeved shirt with a brown striped tunic over it. He dragged her out of the room while they were being chased by those creatures. There seemed to be more and more of those things chasing after them, and the man ran into another room. Unfortunately said room was a storage cabinet. The man locked the door and said, "That's not going to hold the imps for long. What's your name by the way? It'd be nice to know before we die!"

"Rose." She replied.

"Rose, nice to know you in this life! My name's the Doctor! Normally, I would get myself out of these situations, but the imps took my satchel and I really need it!" He exclaimed.

The storage closet was really packed. Rose and the Doctor were almost neck and neck. The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand again and held it tight. The imps were clawing their way through the wood of the door and Rose was panicking. An imp claw finally broke the door and the imps were going to storm them. The Doctor held her and attempted to shield her body from the anticipated attack. Rose opened her eyes and they glowed golden, the imps then turned into stone. Rose passed out from using this newfound power.


	2. Chapter 2

The gentle winds bristling through the trees of the forest of Powell woke Rose up. The last thing she remembered was holding on for dear life with a strange man. Said strange man was a few feet away tending to a small fire with some fish cooking on a stick. He notices her wake up and walks over.

"You didn't tell me that you were a witch! That was brilliant what you did! You turned all those imps to stone! I was really worried thinking that we were gonna die, but then you WHAM! turned them into stone! Of course you passed out and I had to drag you out of the forest to avoid suspicion. Oh, I did get my satchel by the way. Would have been bad if I lost it, I worked really hard to gather some of these items in here y'know. Besides, I don't want to grab any more ogre saliva. It was really difficult to convince that ogre to spit in this vial instead of trying to club me to death! I'll have you know that ogre saliva is-"

"Doctor-" she interrupted, "What?" he questioned. "I'm not a witch. I don't know what you're talking about! I've never had magic nor ever seen it in my life! I think we were saved by the knights!" Rose theorized.

"No Rose, you really did turn those imps into stone! My eyes don't deceive me. I think your magic showing up now could have been due to your intense feelings about wanting to stay alive. Now that you activated your magic, it's going to be hard for you to control it at first I believe. Now, I'm not a wizard or warlock or whatever you guys call them, I just happen to know a bit about magic. For some witches their magic tends to be at its height during times of high emotion, all that stress and hormones! Now, I'm not sure if you village folk know what hormones are, but-"

"Doctor! Maybe none of this actually happened! Maybe take me back to the village." Rose interrupted again.

The Doctor's face became stoic and his brows furrowed. "I wouldn't go back to the village after the activation of your magic. It might be hard for you to control and the villagers will eventually find out. You need to leave now."

"I've got a mum and I need to help her with the textile business or we will starve." Rose was exclaiming while she was walking away. The Doctor seemed to follow her. "Well, you can make an effort to hide your magic or you can leave the village and learn to control it," he added.

"I told you before Doctor, there is no magic. I am not a witch!" Rose defended.

Rose ran away from the crazy man, as she went back to the village. The sun was starting to set as she was running. Rose found her mum's shop and went inside. Her mum notices her and questioned, "Where have you been? I was worried sick, love! Earlier, the knights found evidence of witchcraft in the cotton trader's! Apparently, there was an imp infestation and there are petrified imps there now!"

Rose lied, "I'm fine, mum. Honestly- I was warned by the knights. I'm really tired, I need to go to bed."

Her mum added, "Well, I don't have enough food for ya today. I hope you ate at Mickey's. I don't know why you two haven't married yet, you've been childhood friends with him. He may not be a knight, but he's a great fit for you."

Rose retorted, "Mum, we've had this talk for a long time now! Even before I started dating him to please you!" Rose kept picturing what married life would be with Mickey. She could imagine herself waking up everyday at the crack of dawn tending to their children and continuing working on textiles for the rest of her life. It was the monotonous life of a peasant.

Jacqueline sighed at her daughter, "Rose, love, I just want you to be safe. Your dad was a knight, such a brave one too. He defended the village from the Great Horned Dragon. He may have lost his life in the battle, but he was able to weaken the beast to the point where it couldn't fly. I know you want more to life, but trust me that a safe life is better than a dangerous one that your dad lived!"

Rose just nodded silently. She went up to her bed and fell asleep for the night.

The next morning Rose woke up, feeling a bit different. She felt some kind of weird charges in the air. At first she thought it could be due to an approaching storm, but there were no storm clouds in the summer sky. She got dressed in her plain white dress again and went downstairs to help her mum with the textiles when she spots a familiar face standing outside their front door.

"Hey Rose! I knew you worked at a textile place and I wanted to see if you had any new threads." smiled the Doctor. Now that she looked at his clothes, they did seem kind of faded. There were a couple of holes patched up hap-hazardously near the bottom of his brown trousers and there were cuts in his tunic.

Rose's mum, Jacqueline came outside and noticed the man. "Oh good, a brand new customer! Now, we can fit you for some new outfits, it might help if we knew what kind of profession you do so we can make clothes that suit you."

The Doctor replied, "Oh, I'm just a traveler. I just travel and stuff." The three went inside and led him into the shop. There were many cloths of different colours, many of which were made from wool and cotton. The Doctor grabbed some dark blue and some brown dyed cloths and asked, "How about these?" "That dark blue is kind of pricey, usually the nobility buys these kinds of cloth." Her mum answered.

The Doctor brought out his satchel that was on his back. He opened it and did a bit of digging. "I know I have something right here... Aha! Found it!" He brought his hand out of the bag and revealed a small, brilliant jewel that was a bright yellow colour.

"I know it's pretty small, but this rock is called citrine. It's a type of quartz which is also a type of igneous rock which is a type of rock that forms under intense heat." he rambled.

Rose inspected the small jewel and noticed the gleam and brightness, also the rock was very warm to touch. Rose asked, "Where did you get this? The nearest mine is in the next village over in Chiswick."

"I got it from a volcano on the Boeshane Peninsula. Really small, remote place the Boeshane Peninsula." he revealed.

Jacqueline took the stone from Rose and confirmed, "We'll take it. Rose will tailor you while I go to the merchant's to pawn this jewel off for some money. Maybe I'll get us some meat! We haven't eaten good slices of meat in ages! How does that sound Rose?"

"Yeah, it's fine mum, whatever." Rose accepted. Her mum left the shop leaving Rose with the strange Doctor again. Rose took some cloth and started to fit him. As she was working, she asks "So Doctor, you didn't tell me what your job is or why you're traveling."

"Oh, I'm just a wanderer is all. You see I am actually just wandering around the Torchwood Kingdom for potions ingredients. Potions are not understood very well and there are many misconceptions about their use." He answered.

She asks him another question, "Is there a specific type of potion that you plan on making or what?"

He confessed, "There's a few that I plan on making. Of course there's the odd healing potion and antidotes for things like trollpox. Nasty illness, trollpox, it makes you itch all over and causes mucus buildup in your respiratory tract. Have you ever met any trolls? They're actually a very lovely species and live in small family communities not unlike your own. They tend to be shy and solitary though."

She shook her head, "No, I haven't really encountered any creatures. The imps were the first ones I have seen with my own eyes, but it seems like the creatures are causing harm for us humans. That is why we have the knights to protect us. My father was a knight and his life was taken by defending us from the Great Horned Dragon."

The Doctor recognized the name, "The Great Horned Dragon? I know of him and I reckon he's still out there. He's caused destruction in not just your village but all throughout the land. I have encountered him before, he has two large horns on his head and his dark, grey hide is so thick that short swords cannot pierce through him. I was in Chiswick village and I remember that day when he attacked your village. The sky was filled with smoke and there was ash everywhere."

Rose asks him, "How long do you plan on staying in Powell village, Doctor?"

"Oh, I don't know. Could be minutes, could be hours, could be days." he replied as Rose finished up after taking his measurements for both outfits. She tells him, "Now, your outfits should be ready by sundown."

"Good, good." He sniffed.

Rose guided him out of the shop, and locked the door. He started walking towards the forest perhaps in search of those potions ingredients he mentioned. After he left, Rose worked on tailoring his clothes and finally finished, when she heard a loud noise. Rose walked over to the town square and saw a gathering. A person shouted at the gathering, "All the people at the cotton trader's were killed by the witch! The witch sent an infestation of imps to kill them and turned them to stone when she was done with them! We need to examine every woman in the village who may be a witch!"

Rose was being led to the stage with the other women in the village. She noticed that the older women and orphaned girls were on a different side. Luckily, she and her mum were not considered as her father was considered a saviour of the village. The men started taking role and checking the names of all the women in the village, but there were a few missing.

Adam, the witch hunter, spoke up, "Three young girls are missing! One of them must be a witch! Go find these girls and bring them here! They must have ran, since they are hiding their magic!" At this, everyone of the villagers even the women were hunting for those girls. Rose was feeling forced to look for them, even though she wanted it to drag out so the children were safe. The villagers were searching throughout the forest and the town.

Rose notices the Doctor walking back to the shop and he says, "So, got those clothes?" She nodded and opened the shop to retrieve the new clothes. The Doctor grabbed them and put them in his satchel. "I'll get dressed in them tomorrow, then I'll burn these clothes. Anyways, I heard about the witch ruckus in the town. Pretty terrible that mob mentality is running rampant. Not to mention anti-witch sentiment, magical folks don't look like those ugly caricatures that people draw of them. Anyways, I'm gonna leave now since this is ugly." He walked out of the shop and back into the forest.

Rose notices him leave and feeling bad, she decides to look for the three orphaned girls that were not present at the town meeting. She walks towards the sheep herder's to get more wool and as she was walking, she heard some cries. She looked left and right and then saw down near the bridge the three kids. She shouted and climbed down to get the kids, "How did you get down here!"

The oldest of the three girls spoke, "We were being chased! This area was the only place that nasty manticore couldn't reach!" Rose took each girl and lifted them onto the bridge. Upon hearing Rose, the manticore appeared. It was huge and had a lion's head with a scorpion tail. It roared viciously at Rose. She took the girls with her and ran with the manticore running after them. She was running on the road since the woods were too tricky to run through and they would get pounced immediately. The manticore was getting much too close to them, and Rose had that same feeling of panic wash over her with the imps. Her eyes once again turned gold and the manticore turned to stone. Instead of passing out, Rose was breathing heavily and looked into the shocked faces of the orphans. One of the orphans screamed, "Witch! She's a witch, sis!" and ran far away from Rose. The other two followed suit. Rose ran deeper into the forest knowing that she couldn't return to town anymore. She hid in a small cave for the night and heard the sounds of horses and overheard the knights talking, "Such a shame that Rose girl was a witch, huh? I mean, she's pretty and all but witches have no place here even if they are related to a hero. She might have poisoned our water supply and what not!" Another voice spoke up, "Yeah, I'm just surprised that she hid her powers for that long from us. I know for sure her mother doesn't have magic, because she did the witch test when she got widowed. It's been years since we've had a witch in the village."

Rose did her best to hold her breath and wait until the knights left. She knew that she had to bypass the forest patrol near the end of the village limits. She made sure not to make much noise and then she bumped into someone tall. Her eyes widened and she whispered, "Doctor! What are you doing here!"

He whispered back, "Just leaving the village, I don't really sleep much anyways so why not keep moving right?"

She whispered and cried to him, "You were right, my powers were found out. I have to leave the village now. I can't see my mum or Mickey ever again."

He nodded, "Prejudice is a nasty thing. Why don't you come with me? I know your life has been eating bread and watching jousts but there is so much more to life than that. We can go... anywhere?"

She held his hand and accepted. She knew she was in for a journey of a lifetime.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and started walking away from the village. For Rose, the village was the only place she has ever known. Part of her hated herself for actually feeling a bit of relief from leaving the village. She kept wishing for maybe taking a peak at the land beyond the village, but to be exiled was a whole other matter.

The Doctor spoke, "Now, I do know of some magical villages in this kingdom to take you to. It's kind of out of the way for me, though."

Rose interjected, "No, no. We can do whatever errand that you wanted to run first but may I ask, Why a potions master?"

"Potions and enchantments are very misunderstood. Some people think it's all voodoo, but there's more at work to it. There's this sort of almost-psychic energy that exists in our universe that can be manipulated into what we know as magic. Many different species can manipulate it most famous are the witches and fairies. Some other species have special adaptability against enchantments such as the goblins with their immunity to certain "persuasive" magic, but who wants to make a goblin fall in love with them? They're a nasty bunch anyway." The Doctor rambled.

Rose interjected, "So, where are we going to sleep for tonight. It's already dark and we've walked for a long time."

The Doctor answered, "Oh, yeah. You need your sleep... right. Well... I don't usually sleep very often, but I have this." He lifted up his satchel.

Rose reacted, "What? Do you have a potion for sleep or drowsiness?"

The Doctor shook his head and walked towards a tree and opened his satchel. He actually stepped inside and disappeared. He waved his hand and gestured for Rose to come in. Rose stepped inside where there seemed to be a ladder inside and climbed down. She looked around and saw that the place inside was lit with warm yellow light. There were shelves stocked with many different types of potions and ingredients inside.

"Welcome to the TARDIS, Rose Tyler. The TARDIS looks like a machine, but she's actually engineered coral from my home. She is also enchanted which is why she hides herself in the shape of a satchel. She can change her shape to her will. In fact, TARDISes are usually shaped like cottages or huge cathedrals but she hates being landlocked and wants me to carry her everywhere." The Doctor explained.

Rose asked, "So, she can grow as big as a cathedral?"

The Doctor answered, "Well... Technically she's bigger than that."

Rose asked, "Why a satchel? Does she change her shape or something?"

The Doctor smiled, "Great answer. She does, in fact. She can change her form to suit her will. Normally, she sticks to the shape of a blue shed, but she was feeling lonely and changed her shape to a satchel for me to carry her. C'mon, I'll show you to a bedroom." He started walking to the corridor and stopped at a door. He opened it and Rose saw a cozy looking room with a plush bed in the corner. It was a pretty basic room, but it looked very cozy.

Rose walked inside and asked, "Wait, what if someone comes by the satchel and steals it and we end up in some odd place?"

"Oh good question! The TARDIS has a perception filter meaning that no one will notice it unless they are specifically looking for it. Anyways, you should be off to bed. Gotta catch up on your sleep. If you need me, I'll be in the console room or the library mainly researching potions." The Doctor explained. He shut the door and was off. Rose looked around the room and saw a medium sized dresser. She stored her clothes in there and got dressed in her dressing gown. She peeled the duvet and slipped inside the covers of the plush bed. The duvet was very soft and had down feathers inside, Rose was very comfortable and fell asleep in seconds after the exhaustion of the day.

Fire, there was fire everywhere. The woods were burning from the window of the Tyler home. Rose's father, Peter Tyler, came into Rose's room. He shook her gently, "Sweetheart, you have to wake up. Your mom is going to take you to be evacuated from the village. It is not safe here." Rose nodded and stared at her father. He was wearing chainmail and had his helmet mask up. He wore his shield with the family coat of arms on the back, the coat of arms was not the standard Tyler coat of arms but pictured a snarling wolf with the phrase, "Blaidd Drwg." Her dad left her room to talk with her mum. Rose quickly got dressed and went into the entryway and saw that her mum was crying in her father's arms, "Why did they have to put you on the front line? Rose is only 6 years old. She's too young to risk losing her father!"

Peter let go of his wife and kneeled down next to his daughter facing her, "Rose, I may not come back. We are being attacked by the Great Horned Dragon. I want you to be brave for your mum and do what's right." Peter kissed his daughter's cheek and held her. Tears were running down his eyes as he held her. He held her for a while and then he stood up and kissed Jacqueline. He left the front door and walked towards the inferno with the other knights. Jacqueline grabbed Rose's hand and guided her towards the other peasants who were walking towards Chiswick village in search of safety. Rose looked at the scenery behind her, there was no end to the amount of smoke being put out.

After walking for what seemed like hours, the sun was setting on the horizon. The villagers started a makeshift camp and people were passing around food. Rose's mother was distraught throughout the whole ordeal. Rose decided to go picking berries with the other village maidens to help stock up on food. Rose's mum gave her a flame torch just for safety in case it got dark. Rose traveled with the maidens and they went to pick some wild berries in the forest. Rose was picking berries when she noticed that there were a bunch of claw marks on the trees. Upon further inspection, the marks looked older. She began to follow the marks and found a small stream of water that she knew led to the lake the camp was at. Curiously, she followed the stream and it led to a medium sized tunnel. The tunnel was dark and damp. Interestingly enough, there was a pile of apples inside the tunnel. Rose came closer and took one and was about to take another when she saw a pair of large yellow eyes stare at her. Startled, Rose ran away and didn't look behind her. She ran until she came to the camp. She ran to her mum and cried, "Mummy, I saw a monster in the tunnel! It had big yellow eyes."

Jacqueline held her daughter and went to tell the archers. The archers nodded and grabbed their bows and headed to the direction of the tunnel. Not less than an hour later, all of the archers returned. They shook their heads and one told her mum, "Madam, we found no evidence of a creature in the tunnels. There was also no food pile there." Rose heard and couldn't believe their words, "But I saw it!" She ran towards the tunnel and her mum chased after her. Rose got to the tunnel and saw that there was no apple pile. Her mum grabbed her and took her back to the camp, "Now, listen. We've had a rough day. The Great Horned Dragon can't be here since the messenger said that our knights are still fighting it on the other side of our village. It's going to be hard, but we need to get to sleep and leave early tomorrow morning." Rose nodded as they headed back towards the camp.

The next morning, Rose woke up and saw her mum crying yet again. "Rose! You're up! The messenger came again. Apparently, your dad injured the dragon's wings enough so that it couldn't fly... but he ended up getting impaled by its claws!" Rose's head started getting fuzzy and she felt that it was harder to breathe. She was choking with crying and then...

Rose shot up in the bedroom. She checked the time on the clock on the dresser and it read 2 AM. Groaning, she tried to have a dreamless sleep.


End file.
